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NBA WESTERN CONFERENCE FINALS: SPURS v LAKERS

May 27, 2008

Phil Jackson

SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: Game Four

Q. Your first time around with the Lakers you had a really veteran-laden team, you had guys who knew what they were doing. When you have a young team, what are the challenges with a young team? What has it done for you, has it made you hipper by association? Talk about coaching a younger team.
COACH JACKSON: No, it has not, unfortunately.
But this group of kids are very generous. They allow me mistakes that I might make in identification, some things that I may refer to that may be archaic in basketball. But they're still -- they're pretty good students, so they're attentive, and that helps a lot.

Q. What sort of things have you done for Fisher to get him more shots and more activity in the offense?
COACH JACKSON: You know, I just think we have to be more deliberate in what we're doing. We have to understand where he's at. We have to run some things for him, obviously, just to get him some shots.
We started out the second half with a little sequence. He got a shot, he hit it and that was the only shot he made in the game.
Unfortunately, you know, we had too many things that did go right for us, so there were other people having opportunities -- than he did. But we do have to give him some shots.

Q. Derek Fisher was talking yesterday about some of your guys are so young that he reminds them of his kids; if you tell them to do something, they don't want to do it. Who is he talking about?
COACH JACKSON: Derek went off a little bit this year on a -- a moment in which he has exercised his leadership and talked in generalities about the variety of -- you know, when you have kids, you know, you may have one kid that you raise this way, another kid that you may have to raise a different way. Then he looked at a group of guys -- even when you have dogs and you have a pitbull and you may have this -- somebody may have a lap dog, you raise them differently because he realized this group of kids were too young to relate to having kids.
So eventually we got our own group of dogs that we kind of generalized about that. Jordan being our, you know, poodle, kind of out there, and Chris Mihm being a St. Bernard or whatever.
That was Derek's, you know, first attempt to kind of say, everybody has to have a certain sense to conform attitude in this team so they can pay attention to what we are trying to get done.
A lot of guys at this age that we have make mistakes that are trying to do something that may not be able to be done on the court, may have to learn from experience. And I think that's what Derek is referring to.

Q. Phil, in the last series Kobe had just boat loads of free throws but not so much in this one. What's the difference? What can be changed? Does it need to be changed?
COACH JACKSON: Well, you know, as you know, most of the time in this game, if you put hands on players, it is a foul. And that's the general declaration for the referees.
My favorite defensive player, who I nicknamed Edward Scissorhands, does not get his hands on him. He is quick with his hands but he really plays exceptional defense and his activity I think has created the illusion he is not fouling but there is a lot of contact going on.
You know, Kobe got in there maybe four times in the second half and I noticed in watching the film, made a gesture like he had been fouled or was seeking fouls. But when we went back over it as a team, I just said they are collapsing their defense around you and those referees aren't going to call it if it is a crowd.
If they can see it and it is the definition of a foul, they will call the foul. But if it is in a crowd -- you have to move the ball or find an open space to do this. You have to give the Spurs credit for collectively defending him.

Q. Bruce's hands too quick for him to get caught, is that it?
COACH JACKSON: I think that was the illusion I used with that nickname I gave him.
You know, he is persistently at an offensive player, finding little ways to counteract. The biggest thing he does, I think he stays down and he keeps on the floor. When you get up in the air on Kobe, you're in trouble.

Q. Which dog is Kobe?
COACH JACKSON: Which dog? Top dog. (Smiling).

Q. You talked about making archaic references. What were some of the references you may have thrown off to this group that they didn't have any clue what you were talking about?
COACH JACKSON: There is some in rock n' roll, obviously. And being hip was something that was -- we started out with low five and then it became high five and then it became a variety of things.
So, I mean, we kind of go through the generalities of the age of basketball and how it's changed.
One of the things I wanted to show them was just a little tape from my era when Bradley talks about a departed teammate in Dave DeBusschere. It shows them in the introduction and all the players come out and they stand in the line and they face each other. And they give each other five like this (indicating).
There was a commercial done in that era which most of you probably weren't around to see, but it was a Vitalis commercial and it was about getting grease in your hands by giving five like that. Bradley didn't take part in it.
I just talked about how Bradley wasn't going to be part of the commercial selling as an athlete, which was a stance that he created. And Donnie May who was a ball player from Dayton had to stand part in his part for the five guys that stood in for the Knicks. This was kind of a symbol of our era that we were getting very hip at giving each other five.
And now it's progressed to where you not only give a high five but you jump in the air and give a chest and do another bump on your way down. So there is another era that still has a ways to go in celebration.
But we just talk about that.

Q. What's after that? Can you predict?
COACH JACKSON: I don't know. I think the feet will come into play somehow (smiling).

Q. What's Vitalis?
COACH JACKSON: Isn't that something. (Smiling) where did that come from?

Q. When you look at your team, you got guys like Farmar who were drafted lower but have helped you out in their first few years. Can you kind of talk about the importance of even though a team like yours make the playoffs a lot but still building from the draft which helps you out in later years?
COACH JACKSON: Well, you know, the Lakers were as limited as San Antonio has been in the past decade of drafting very low, I guess you would call it, or high in the draft.
And having players in the high 20s for a number of years.
And, you know, Mitch has done a great job in trying to collect talent that will adjust to what we're trying to do. And we've gone through the talent route and obviously the trade with Miami brought us an opportunity to draft high in Andrew Bynum.
But that year also, we were able to pick up Ronny Turiaf in that draft and kind of help us out. And next year get a player like Jordan who we felt was kind of from a winning background. We're looking for guys that have winning as part of their definition because we think it carries over.
And Jordan is quick and agile both mentally and physically. He is a really quick study. He is also very confident. We like that about him. He's given us some -- even though he had a real tough series, he bounced back in the series and given us good play.

End of FastScripts

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